A possessive adjective is an adjective that is used to show ownership of something or someone. It comes before a noun in the sentence and lets us know to whom the noun belongs. For example: my father. Unlike in English, possessive adjective are classified according to number (plural and singular) and gender (masculine and feminine) in French. In this lesson, The French Master Gh will help you to identify and correctly use possessive adjectives in French. We will start with the classification of the possessive adjectives according to gender (that is feminine and masculine).
Masculine: All nouns that take the definite articles “le” (read about definite articles here) or the indefinite article “un” (read about indefinite articles here) are masculine nouns therefore are preceded by the following possessive adjectives : mon (my), ton (your), son (his), notre (our), votre (your), leur (their).
NB: the possessive adjectives mon, ton, son, notre, votre, leur are used to represent or show possession for their respective personal pronouns je, tu, il, nous, vous, ils. (Read about personal pronouns in French here). This means that where je is used mon should be there. where tu is used ton should be there, where il is used son should be there, where nous is used notre should be there, where vous is used votre should be there, where ils is used leur should be there.
Examples
J’ai un stylo ———– C’est mon stylo
Tu as un cahier ——— C’est ton cahier
Kofi a un crayon ———– C’est son crayon
Nous avons un travail de groupe ———- C’est notre travail de groupe
Vous avez un livre ——— C’est votre livre
Kofi et Ama ont un père ——— C’est leur père
Feminine: All nouns that take the definite articles “la” (read about definite articles here) or the indefinite article “une” (read about indefinite articles here) are feminine nouns therefore are preceded by the following possessive adjectives : ma (my), ta (your), sa (his), notre (our), votre (your), leur (their).
NB: the possessive adjectives ma, ta, sa, notre, votre, leur are used to represent or show possession for their respective personal pronouns je, tu, elle, nous, vous, ils. (Read about personal pronouns in French here). This means that where je is used ma should be there. where tu is used ta should be there, where elle is used sa should be there, where nous is used notre should be there, where vous is used votre should be there, where ils is used leur should be there.
Examples
J’ai une chemise ———– C’est ma chemise
Tu as une robe ——— C’est ta robe
Kofi a une table ———– C’est sa table
Nous avons une table ———- C’est notre table
Vous avez une armoire ——— C’est votre armoire
Kofi et Ama ont une mère ——— C’est leur mère
Plural: All plural nouns that is those taking the definite articles “les” (read about definite articles here) or the indefinite article “des” are plural nouns therefore are preceded by the following possessive adjectives : mes (my), tes (your), ses (his), nos (our), vos (your), leurs (their).
NB: the possessive adjectives mes, tes, ses, nos, vos, leurs are the plural form of both the masculine singular possessive adjectives (mon, ton, son, notre, votre, leur) and the feminine singular possessive adjectives (ma, ta, sa, notre, votre, leur). This means that where mon & ma are used mes should be there. Where ton & ta are used tes should be there, where son & sa are used ses should be there, where notre is used nos should be there, where votre is used vos should be there, where leur is used leurs should be there.
Examples
J’ai des chemises ———– Ce sont mes chemises
Tu as des robes ——— Ce sont tes robe
Kofi a deux tables ———– Ce sont ses tables
Nous avons des cahiers ———- Ce sont nos cahiers
Vous avez des armoires ——— Ce sont vos armoires
Kofi et Ama ont quatre maisons ——— Ce sont leurs maisons
NOTE
-
Mon, ton, son are also used for feminine singular nouns that begin with a vowel or a mute h. Example : mon amie, son école, ton opinion.
-
Ma, ta, sa are only used before feminine nouns that begin with a consonant. Example: ma fille, ta chemise, sa gomme.
Récapitulatif
| Masculine sing. | Feminine sing. | Plural | English |
| Mon | Ma | Mes | My |
| Ton | Ta | Tes | Your |
| Son | Sa | Ses | His/Her |
| Notre | Notre | Nos | Our |
| Votre | Votre | Vos | Your |
| Leur | Leur | Leurs | Their |